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A good way to gain an advantage over your next week's opponent is to "sacrifice" that poor sap at the bottom of your roster who really isn't contributing all that much, and convert his roster spot into a streaming one. This way you will maximize your games played and will have the opportunity to choose the kind of players you need to win that matchup.
In this article, we are analyzing the NBA schedule for next week, pinpointing the days where most fantasy owners will find it challenging to field a full starting lineup and offering some insight on who to target off the waiver wire to ease these woes.
Welcome to our fantasy basketball streamers for Week 7, right here at RotoBaller!
Editor's Note: Our incredible team of writers received five total writing awards and 13 award nominations by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, tops in the industry! Congrats to all the award winners and nominees including NBA Writer of the Year, Best NFL Series, MLB Series, PGA Writer and Player Notes writer of the year. Be sure to follow their analysis, rankings and advice all year long, and win big with RotoBaller! Read More!
NBA Schedule Guide - Week 7
With all days having between four and 10 games played, where a specific fantasy team will have a need to fill the starting roster is very individual. Whether a majority of your players play on Monday with six or Tuesday with seven games is impossible to predict and I won't try to do that.
I will, however, cover the days that will statistically bring most headaches to fantasy owners, and offer some options that should be able to help out most of us.
The two days that have the least games are Thursday with four and Saturday with five. There are five teams that play on both days and they also play on either Monday or Tuesday, so their players will be our focus today as they can provide cover for multiple scarce days.
Here's the low-down:
Teams with 4 games:
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets
Indiana Pacers
Los Angeles Lakers
Miami Heat
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
Washington Wizards
Teams with 3 games:
Atlanta Hawks
Brooklyn Nets
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets
Los Angeles Clippers
Memphis Grizzlies
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves
New Orleans Pelicans
New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder
Orlando Magic
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
Teams with 2 games:
Boston Celtics
San Antonio Spurs
Number of teams playing each day:
Monday: 12
Tuesday: 14
Wednesday: 20
Thursday: 8
Friday: 20
Saturday: 10
Sunday: 16
Back-to-Backs (beware of older or banged-up players who might rest):
Monday/Tuesday: -
Tuesday/Wednesday: DAL, DET, LAL, MIA, ORL, POR
Wednesday/Thursday: PHO
Thursday/Friday: DEN, WAS
Friday/Saturday: CLE, IND
Saturday/Sunday: DAL, PHI
Sunday/Monday the following: CHI, LAC, MIN, OKC, SAC, TOR
Days with seven or fewer games
Monday: 6 games
Tuesday: 7 games
Thursday: 4 games
Saturday: 5 games
Teams playing on three of these days (including Thurs and Sat):
Philadelphia 76ers (4 games - Mon, Thurs, Sat, Sun)
Phoenix Suns (4 games - Mon, Wed, Thurs, Sat)
Houston Rockets (3 games - Tues, Thurs, Sat)
New Orleans Pelicans (3 games - Tues, Thurs, Sat)
New York Knicks (3 games - Mon, Thurs, Sat)
Teams playing on Mon/Thurs:
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
New York Knicks
Teams playing on Tue/Thurs:
Denver Nuggets (4 games - Tue, Thurs, Fri, Sun)
Washington Wizards (4 games - Tue, Thurs, Fri, Sun)
Toronto Raptors (3 games - Tues, Thurs, Sun)
Houston Rockets
New Orleans Pelicans
Teams playing on Mon/Sat:
Indiana Pacers (4 games - Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat)
Memphis Grizzlies (3 games - Mon, Wed, Sat)
Utah Jazz (3 games - Mon, Wed, Sat)
Philadelphia 76ers
Phoenix Suns
New York Knicks
Teams playing on Tue/Sat:
Dallas Mavericks (4 games - Tue, Wed, Sat, Sun)
Cleveland Cavaliers (3 games - Tue, Fri, Sat)
Houston Rockets
New Orleans Pelicans
Teams playing three games over the weekend (from Thursday to Sunday)
Denver Nuggets
Philadelphia 76ers
Washington Wizards
Baller Streaming Strategy for Week 7
With Thursday (four games played) and Saturday (five games) being the scarcest game days next week, it is most likely fantasy owners will have difficulty fielding a full starting lineup. Furthermore, Monday has six and Tuesday seven games, not exactly a wide range of options either, so we should take a look at our teams and figure out if we need help on these days as well.
There are five teams whose schedules fit the need to fill the roster on these scarce days pretty nicely.
If you need some help on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday - Philadelphia and Phoenix play four games next week and they play on all three of these days. New York also plays on these three days (and only on these three days).
Should you seek some additions for Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday - Houston and New Orleans are the teams you can target with their only three games for next week coming on exactly these three days.
Streaming Options for Week 7
Shallower League Streaming Adds for the Week:
Dario Saric, PF/C, PHO, (51% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, FT%, 3PM, PTS
Aron Baynes, PF/C, PHO, (56% Owned) - Strong Cats: FG%, REB, BLK
Danuel House, SG/SF, HOU (46% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, a bit of everything
P.J. Tucker, SF/PF, HOU, (65% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL, REB
J.J. Redick, SG, NOP, (73% Owned) - Strong Cats: FT%, 3PM, TO
Josh Hart, SG/SF, NOP, (44% Owned) -Strong Cats: STL, REB, a bit of everything
Shallower League Add
Dario Saric, PF/C, PHO - 51% Owned
Strong Cats: REB, FT%, 3PM, PTS
Saric has been marked as a talent for a long time now, and it finally looks like he is coming into his own in a starting spot with the Suns. He has been a top-100 player the whole season, but he exploded in the last week with averages of 14.7 points with 2.3 threes on 46.9% from the field and no misses in seven attempts from the charity stripe, 12.7 boards, 2.0 dimes, 0.7 steals, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 turnovers in 34 minutes over three games. This has him in the top-10 for this period.
Now while it is quite difficult to imagine Saric continuing to block 1.7 shots a game and vacuum in 12.7 boards, it's very possible that he can stick around in the top-70 and very probable that he will be a top-100 player for the rest of the season.
Furthermore, Phila has a lovely schedule for next week, so, if he is available in your league Dario could be a very worthy addition for both the short term and long.
Deeper League Add
Frank Ntilikina, PG/SG, NYK - 19% Owned
Strong Cats: AST, 3PM, STL
Ntilikina is in his third year in the NBA and has yet to justify being selected as the 8th overall pick in the 2017 draft. The Frenchman has shown flashes of fantasy greatness here and there, including a nine-point, nine-assist, six-steal performance just over a week ago so we know he does have it in him.
Furthermore, he is getting over 27 minutes per game on the season, and over 31 minutes in the past two weeks, so we also know he will get the opportunity.
Now, whether he will show it or not is a different matter entirely.
He is barely a top-150 player this season with averages of 6.7 PTS with 0.8 3PM on 38.3 FG% and 76.5 FT%, 2.3 REB, 3.6 AST, 1.5 STL, 0.6 BLK, and 1.1 TO. Nothing really pops out except for the defensive stats perhaps, and if you care about your FG%, then Frenk is a liability.
But if you need a diverse contribution and can handle his poor shooting, with a decent schedule next week Ntilikina could prove very helpful. And with his talent, he could explode any day now.
Insanely Deep League Add
Ben McLemore, SG/SF, HOU - 1% Owned
Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%, a bit of everything
McLemore was brought on to Houston's roster for squad depth, but with long term injuries to Eric Gordon and Gerald Green, Ben was called upon. And he answered.
He is a three-point specialist and is getting his owners 8.2 PTS with 1.9 3PM on 36.6 FG% and 84.0 FT%, 2.5 REB, 0.8 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.2 BLK, and 0.6 TO in 20 minutes per game so far this season. Nothing too flashy, but then again, Ben is only owned in 1% of the leagues for a reason. Furthermore, Ben already has three 20+ point games this season, so he has proven he can get hot in a hurry.
McLemore had his best game of the season in his very last game against the Hawks with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting (including 6-of-11 for three), 13 boards, one assist, steal and turnover apiece in almost 34 minutes. To be fair, both Daunel House and Clint Capela were out with an illness for this one, but Ben really shone nevertheless.
With a nice schedule coming up, McLemore is a decent dice-roll in deep leagues. Who knows, maybe House and Capela miss more time, or Ben just gets hot again and gets your team closer to a W in your next week's matchup.
Deep League Options for the Week
James Ennis III, SG/SF, PHI, (1% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL (more valuable as long as Josh Richardson is out)
Matisse Thybulle, SG/ SF, PHI, (5% Owned) - Strong Cats: BLK/STL, 3PM
Furkan Korkmaz, SG, PHI, (2% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT% (more valuable as long as Josh Richardson is out)
Mike Scott, PF, PHI, (0% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, 3PM - buyer beware: on a cold streak shooting 6-of-27 from the field in his last six games
Cameron Johnson, SG/SF, PHO, (2% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%, STL
Frank Kaminsky, PF/C, PHO, (11% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, REB
Taj Gibson, PF/C, NYK, (2% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, STL/BLK
Bobby Portis, PF/C, NYK, (5% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, REB, STL
Dennis Smith Jr., PG/SG, NYK, (5% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM
Frank Ntilikina, PG/SG, NYK, (19% Owned) - Strong Cats: AST, 3PM, STL
Ben McLemore, SG/SF, HOU (1% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, FT%, a bit of everything (more valuable as long as Danuel House is out)
Austin Rivers, SG/SF, HOU (1% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL (more valuable as long as Danuel House is out)
Jahlil Okafor, C, NOP, (8% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, FG%, BLK (more valuable as long as Derrick Favors is out)
Jaxson Hayes, C, NOP, (12% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, FG%, STL/BLK (more valuable as long as Derrick Favors is out)
Kenrich Williams, SF/PF, NOP, (7% Owned) - Strong Cats: REB, BLK/STL - buyer beware: missed the last game with an ankle injury
Nicolo Melli, PF, NOP, (1% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL
E'Twaun Moore, SG/SF, NOP, (2% Owned) - Strong Cats: 3PM, STL
I hope you guys enjoyed the article and I hope that this will help you win your matchups next week and bragging rights for the week after.
